Smile
by ChloeRhiannonX
Summary: There are a thousand reasons for someone to smile. And there are nowhere near that many reasons for me, though. But you, Duncan Evans, are definitely one of the few of them I have. TwoShot
1. Chapter 1

Two-shot

Warning for abuse

Possible OOCness

DxC Friendship

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><p><strong>And that's why I smile.<strong>

**It's been a while**

**Since every day and everything has felt this right**

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><p>There are a thousand reasons for someone to smile. And there are nowhere near that many reasons for me, though. But you, Duncan Evans, are definitely one of the few of them I have.<p>

Her tanned hand moved at sixty miles an hour, scribbling words upon words on sheets upon sheets of paper. The pile beside her was stacking up higher and higher with every sheet she finished. But Courtney was not finishing her history report any time soon. It had only been assigned that morning, but as soon as Courtney stepped through her front door, she knew she had to get cracking on it.

Her arm was aching; her hand numb from the pain, but that was no reasons to take a break. Courtney had missed dinner and was probably going to work all through supper, as well, but she wasn't very hungry. Nothing was going to disrupt her constant pace of flowing knowledge.

The night drew in and the sun disappeared, Courtney had not long written her last word before realizing how long she had spent writing her essay. Something that would have taken a normal teenager five minutes to knock out something decent had taken Courtney seven hours to write something that was guaranteed to give her the grade she deserved. The grade she needed.

Struggling to keep her balance, Courtney took one step at a time down the staircase, her arms outstretched, carrying her essay. Before turning in any piece of homework, Courtney had to have the approval of her parents. More importantly, the approval of her father. If Courtney was to ever turn in a piece of homework that was not up to his standards-Well, Courtney did not wish to ever find out. Not once had Courtney ever broke the unspoken rule of showing her parents everything school related before they found out another way and-Courtney didn't want to think about the consequences.

The teenage girl watched her father's grey eyes intensely as they scanned over page after page for hours and hours, well into the morning. Courtney was growing tired, but she was not allowed to leave. She had to stay seated, her posture up right and her hands neatly held on her crossed knees. Anything less perfect and Courtney was afraid of what may have happened to her.

"NO!" The old man barked, his brow sweating from the blazing fire beside him. His tone was dictating Courtney's worst fear. Her father reached out his sleeved arm and dropped the stacked essay straight into the fireplace. Courtney winced, her eyes watching in terror as her hours of hard work disintegrated into nothing more than ash. Her biggest fear was coming true; her father was once again disappointed in Courtney's efforts.

He directed his pointing finger at Courtney, curling it up a few times to motion for his daughter to come closer. Courtney had always feared her father and what he could do to her. He was a very stern man who never cracked a smile and always wore hard, cold suits. Not once did Courtney ever have a memory of her father hugging her, buying her an ice cream cone, tucking her into bed and reading her a fairytale as a child. It was as if he didn't care about anything but her education.

The brunette did as she was told, getting to her feet and standing before her father. He towered over her, which only made him more intimidating. Courtney's clouded eyes stared upwards; she knew what was coming next-

IMPACT!

Pushing back the pain, pushing back the tears, Courtney fell to the floor. The red hand print on her cheek showed up very clearly in the dimly-lit room. It glowed under the power of the fire, but the hurtful man didn't bat an eyelash before reaching down and dragging Courtney back to her feet by her collar. He bared his teeth, their faces practically touching.

"You better do a better job on that essay if you want to hand it in on time, GOT IT?" The man snarled and Courtney promptly nodded her head. He tossed her fragile body to the side of him, towards the door. "Get outta my sight!" He yelled, taking a swig straight from his liquor bottle, "I CAN'T STAND TO LOOK AT YOU!" He angrily turned and Courtney knew it was best for everyone if she scurried out of there right then.

"What happened to your cheek, Princess?" The neon-haired boy asked, rubbing his thumb over the purple mark over Courtney's cheek. She had tried her best to cover it up with make-up, but make-up only stayed on skin for so long and Courtney hadn't brought any with her to school.

"It's none of your business!" She quickly snapped at him, grabbing her lunch tray and stalking off to find a table to sit. It wasn't that she didn't trust Duncan, one of her closest friends, but she was scared of the consequences. Courtney was always scared of the consequences of her actions. Of everyone else's actions. Courtney had been living her life that way for far too long for it to be as easy to just open up and pour out her heart to just anyone.

Duncan watched as Courtney walked away. He watched her moves, the way she refused to touch anyone else in the cafeteria. If someone came within an inch of touching her, she would quickly squirm away from them. Duncan had always noticed that about her, but had always assumed it was a pride thing. Courtney had a lot of pride and it did often get the better of her. But, what Duncan was starting to realize, is that it was a lot more than that.

The two had known each other since the dawn of time. Their entire lives they had grown up on the same street, their entire lives they had always gone to the same school. They were always in the same classes, always paired up for school projects and assignments. It was only natural for the best student to be paired with the worst. At first, Courtney hated him and Duncan wasn't very fond of Courtney, either. But, when you spend so much time with someone, you get to know them better; you get to understand a lot about them. And then came the friendship. They both had mutual friends; they had always had Bridgette and Geoff who were constantly sucking face. They had Gwen and Trent who were the oddest couple since the pair themselves. So, with this friendship, things seemed a lot easier between them.

And recently Duncan had started to notice the little things about Courtney. The way her long sleeves, even in the summer, would always be pulled down to her wrists. Granted that they did live in Canada and the 'warm' climate was nothing to wear shorts over, but Duncan found it unusual. Courtney never wore skirts without wearing tights underneath, Courtney never wore shirts for gym, and she had an excuse note from her mother complaining of a skin rash that she would better not show off. Courtney was never open about herself and Courtney never hugged anyone of her friends like other girls Duncan knew did. He found it strange that any of these things applied to Courtney, but, not being as big of an idiot as everyone seemed to think he was. Duncan could fit two and two together.

"I think we need to talk, Princess." Duncan whispered in Courtney's ear. Princess was the nickname that Courtney had been given by the delinquent because she lived in a 'palace' in her perfect 'fairytale' life. The truth was that Courtney's parents were both overly successful lawyers and she was a spoilt brat when it came to possessions. Courtney was given anything and everything regardless of the price or otherwise. But, what most people didn't realize was that it was just a way to buy their daughters love. There was nothing sentimental behind anything that Courtney owned. In fact, Courtney would have much preferred to have the cheap things like everyone else in life, but her parents refused to hear of it.

"About what?" The brunette asked, not really thinking about what was being said between them. Her concentration seemed to be on her cupcake, but she was really trying to not think of the pain in her cheek. And, with every breath that Duncan gave, he blew warm air over her skin, only making it worse. But Courtney couldn't tell Duncan that, he was already too suspicious of the situation as it was.

"I think you know."

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><p>AN: Poor, poor Courtney...

I really do feel bad for her right here...

Yes, I do a lot of shit that puts Courtney in bad situations, but this time I really do feel for her...

Smile by Avril Lavinge.

I still LOVE this song to pieces!

Yes, this is a TWO-SHOT! Why? BECAUSE I WANT IT TO BE! Seriously...It could be a oneshot...But I don't want it to be xD LOL! It's just been a while since I wrote a half-decent two-shot is all :)

Thanks for reading, please review :)

Love, ChloeRhiannonX


	2. Chapter 2

Two-Shot

Warning for abuse

Possible OOCness

DxC friendship

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><p>Her eyes stared out into the night, the darkness of it all mixing together to form shapes that weren't really there. Courtney's mind never usually lingered on her injuries for long, but this time was different. This time someone had actually noticed it. This time Duncan had seen the bruising on Courtney's cheek and now she was very paranoid.<p>

The abuse had been going on for many years now. Courtney was only nine when she received the first blow.

Stuffing the crumpled piece of paper under her pillow, the young girl wiped her brunette locks from her tanned face. The struggle to keep her grades up had gotten to Courtney. Her mother was forever insisting that Courtney go along with her whenever she was never in school. It wasn't for bonding time, oh no, it was so Courtney's mother could get in good with her clients with children. Courtney had grown up playing with children she would be friends with for weeks at a time. As soon as Courtney's mother won the case, the children were never to be seen again.

All of the going out and all of the sleepless nights were really taking its toll on Courtney's young body. She was unable to concentrate during her spelling test and had ended up with a B instead of the A that she should have been getting. There was not a chance that Courtney was going to tell her parents, they would have been too disappointed in their little girl and Courtney hated it when he parents pulled that act on her.

"Where is it?" The man standing in the doorway had only just got home, but he had known that Courtney had, had a test that day. He wasn't interested in what the test was; he was interested in the grade. His daughter was not allowed to have anything lower than an A whilst she still lived under his roof.

Courtney panicked, her eyes fluttering around like caged butterflies in their sockets. Her father's eyes met the pillow just as hers did the same. They both knew that was where Courtney hid her secrets and there was definitely where her test was hidden.

Unfolding the paper, Courtney could see her father's eyes light up in rage,

"Daddy, I'm sorry! I-" But Courtney never got to finish her sentence. She was knocked backwards, her head hitting the floor and her leg getting caught on the end of the bed. She burst into tears; her father had never done anything like that to her before. She had no knowing of how to react to that situation, so she cried. But, over the years, Courtney had learnt not to cry when the abuse came, it only hurt her more.

"Summer vacation is here!" Duncan shouted with just a little bit too much enthusiasm. He pumped his fist into the air, landing it directly (softly) on Courtney's shoulder as a joke. But Courtney didn't find it funny. Her breath caught in her throat, her eyes clenched and her whole body tensed up as she waited for the pain. But there was none. Duncan wasn't mean enough to hurt his closest friend.

"Court...?"

"I-I'm going to class." She stammered too quickly, tripping over what she said. The brunette turned away from Duncan and peacefully walked towards her final class of the day. Luckily for her, Duncan was supposed to be on the other end of the school during last period.

"Okay, Princess!" Duncan chimed, wrapping his arm around her neck. Courtney didn't quite freeze up as she had done before, but she certainly felt uncomfortable. She didn't like contact with other people, all the years of abuse had done that to her.

"What, Duncan?" Courtney asked, shrugging away his arm and reaching into her bag to retrieve her car keys. It wasn't that Courtney didn't have time for Duncan or that she didn't want to have time for Duncan, she just wanted to get home as fast as possible.

"So, the thing is, my parents are whisking me and my brothers and sister off for a week's vay-kay somewhere in the forest." Courtney had no idea what that had to do with her, it wasn't as if they ever talked outside of school, anyway. Courtney had no internet access and never had a cell phone. They were too 'distracting' from what was important in life; studying.

Duncan turned to face Courtney and she did stop for a moment to look at him, too. There was something in his eyes, something about the way he looked at her that made Courtney realize that there was definitely something more to Duncan than anyone ever thought.

"I asked if you could come too...And they said yes."

The best apart about the cabin was definitely the fact that Courtney was hundreds and hundreds of miles away from her parents. The wooden house was even better than Courtney had ever thought. There was a deck of some sorts running the whole way around and the place was completely secluded from anywhere around because of the wild growing forestry that surrounded the whole place.

It was a very good thing that it had been Duncan's mother talking to Courtney mother. I it had been any other combination of parents-Well, neither of the two would have been lounging around on the deck in shorts and t-shirts at that moment.

The abuse from Courtney's father had stopped since school had got out. The only reasons being he had gone on a business trip the morning of the last day and he kept on having to have the date extended on it. Courtney wasn't stupid; she knew it was that woman from his office building. Her mother had no idea, but Courtney had witnessed it for her own eyes. That was how Courtney had gotten herself a black eye and a black Bentley.

The teenager was very happy to be so far away from all the pain and all the agony that she had been suffering from. It felt nice to be able to relax for the first time since-Courtney couldn't even remember. It was just very relaxing to be able to lounge around on deck chair and play cards with people who had taken you in as family.

**"**Straight flush!" Matt smiled, peeling down his cards on the table slowly for extra effect. It was the sixth time he had won and everyone knew he had to be cheating by now. Duncan's siblings-Matt, Lucas and Cassie- were a lot of fun to be around and it made Courtney yearn for her own. Her parents hadn't wanted children to begin with and Courtney was the rare result of the morning after pill not working. Her parents were never going to have any more children and Courtney had thought that was fine growing up, she had her parents full attention on herself, but seeing how much fun having siblings was, Courtney wished for some of her own.

"BEDROOM INSPECTION!" Mrs. Evans called out playfully. The three eldest ran for cover, leaving Duncan and Courtney smiling on the deck. Courtney had been doing a lot of that ever since they had arrived; smiling. It was something she never seemed to be able to do at home, but out there, in the middle of nowhere, she found she had a lot of reasons to smile. Number one reason being Duncan.

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><p><strong>And now<strong>

**You turn it all around**

**And suddenly you're all I need**

**The reason why,**

**I smile.**

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><p>AN: Awwwww...

Perfect ending :D

Well, it's perfect as long as you don't think about Courtney having to go home after that week is up =/

ENOUGH MEANNESS!

Smile by Avril Lavinge.

Still loving it...LOL!

Thank You To;

ILUVCOURTEY: Yes, yes it is! LOL! hahaha! Thank you :D

HATERS CAN'T SEE ME: Sorry...This is a DxC Friendship story! Thanks :D

Thanks for reading, please review :)

Love, ChloeRhiannonX


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